Al-Amara, Iraq - Iranian troops have claimed an oil well on the border of southern Iraq, a senior Iraqi military officer said Friday. Iranian troops on Thursday "occupied" the "Number 4" oil well in the Eastern Maysan oil field, located in the border district of al- Fakah, Brigadier-General Dhafir Nadhmi said in a statement Friday.

Nadhmi said that Iranian forces had taken control of the well, dug a trench around it, deployed armoured vehicles, and raised the Iranian flag over the well.

I would say so . . . with speculation ramping up (again) of an Israeli strike on Iranian nuke facilities, student protests in Iran, the Iranian test missile launch earlier this week, and news yesterday from a Kuwaiti paper that Tehran and “urgently” summoned the Syrian FM and Hezbollah leader for consultations . . . lot going on

bloomberg’s article makes reference to this being unverified, but I see no reason why an Iraqi general would lie about something like this . . . I would assume the major outlets are trying to confirm. For Tehroan to end an armored column across the Iraqi border to capture an oil well is BIG NEWS.

could be a local IRGC commander doing his own thing. Wouldn’t be the first time. Many analysts believed the Iranian forces who captured the 15 Brit sailors a few years back were IRGC who were not acting under orders from Tehran

Is this well in that part of the border region that has been in question for years and years? I don’t recall the specifics, but there’s an area along the Iraq/Iran border that has been disputed, often with armed conflict.

>>> "I'm sure Zero will write them a letter and tell them to work it out in a bipartisan manner." <<<

No, Obama will be too angry to even hold a pen, LOLOL -- surely this news will detract from the Great Speech that the Great One delivered to the freeezing cold global-warmer enthusiasts & true believers -- now all the reporters will be focused upon Iran and not upon BHO.

BAGHDAD, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Iranian troops briefly entered Iraqi territory on Thursday and spent several hours at an Iraqi oilfield, an Iraqi official said on Friday.

A security source in the southeastern Maysan province, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Iranian troops made their way onto the Fakka oilfield, located just on the Iraqi side of the two countries’ long desert border.

The troops withdrew after several hours, the official said. It was not immediately clear why the troops would have undertaken such a move.

According to Arabic-language television reports, Iranian troops entered the Iraqi oilfield and raised an Iranian flag.

Iranian forces yesterday entered Iraqi territory at dawn, and occupied well number 4 in the East Maysan field in al-Fakah region, 450 kilometers (280 miles) south of Baghdad, Border Guard General Zaser Nazmi said. The Iranian forces positioned tanks around the well. The border guards comments couldnt be immediately verified independently.

They positioned tanks around it and dug trenches, Nazmi said by phone from Basra. They are still there, they raised the flag.

East Maysan in southern Iraq is an old oil field that is no longer in production, according to Nazmi. Iraq is the third largest oil producer in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Look at it this way. If we don’t do anything about this, it could really undermine our credibility among the Iraqis. It could certainly be spun into the argument that we’re perfectly willing to beat up on Iraqis, but won’t lift a finger to protect Iraq’s borders and resources from foreign enemies.

That could be a motive for this move. Iran senses that we lack the political will to do anything, so they’re calculating that they’ll be able to weaken us politically in Iraq, which can only work to their benefit.

The Enlightened One is now distracted with health care, global warming and Afghanistan. It is a prime time to make a move to challenge him. He has already shown it takes at least 3 months for him to make a military decision. What have they got to loose?

That could be a motive for this move. Iran senses that we lack the political will to do anything, so theyre calculating that theyll be able to weaken us politically in Iraq, which can only work to their benefit.

That's very good insight. Makes sense to me. The incident *seems* to be over but it sure gives a lot to think about.

When Iraq invaded Iran Khomeini deliberately dragged out the war for 8 years because it was what helped unite Iranians behind his government, which was wobbly and unstable at the time of the invasion. It was Saddam’s brilliant idea to invade Iran that actually wound up saving Khomeini’s government.

Iran is wobbly and unstable at the moment too. We’ve got a military mutiny going on, a possibly dead supreme ledear, and several million angry, rioting voters. Nothing like taking over some Iraqi oil wells and provoking conflict to try & get the people united behind the regime....(it’s not going to work though)

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